Dayton Flyers forward Devin Oliver (5) drives to the basket against Stanford Cardinal guard Robbie Lemons (right) and center Stefan Nastic (4) during the first half of the semifinals in the south regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament at FedExForum. / Spruce Derden, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

MEMPHIS - The ball zipped around the perimeter with such precision and authority that Dayton's first-half performance Thursday could have served as a 20-minute clinic in fundamental ball movement.

Only two of its baskets were scored without assists. Only two of its offensive possessions resulted in turnovers. And it all came against one of the NCAA tournament's stingiest defenses on the largest stage Dayton has seen in 30 years.

Dayton surgically carved up Stanford's defense en route to an 82-72 victory in the South Regional semifinals at FedEx Forum, continuing an improbable postseason run for the Flyers and their 35-year-old coach, Archie Miller.

"The way they shared the ball, the way they moved the ball. ... It was a true team effort," Miller said. "It was nice to see on the biggest stage that we were ourselves."

Eleventh-seeded Dayton (26-10) secured a berth in its first Elite Eight since 1984, the year the 10th-seeded Flyers lost to eventual national champion Georgetown. To reach this year's Final Four, Dayton will need to beat No. 1 seed Florida, which defeated UCLA 79-68, in Saturday's regional final.

It is no surprise that one of the Miller brothers will be playing for a Final Four berth. But few outside Dayton could have imagined that Archie Miller would be first to secure an Elite Eight berth in this year's tournament before his older brother, Sean, Arizona's head coach.

Despite being separated by 10 years, the two have the same mannerisms. During Miller's Wednesday news conference, a reporter apologized after mistakenly calling Miller by his brother's first name. Miller said, "You don't have to worry about that. Everybody calls me Sean."

And much like his brother, Miller has built a national contender, albeit far more unexpectedly. But at this point in the tournament, it would be foolish to discount the Flyers. After beating teams from the Big Ten (Ohio State) and ACC (Syracuse) in its first two NCAA tournament victories, the Flyers on Thursday ousted one of the three remaining Pac-12 teams.

The third-year coach is the architect of a deep team - 12 players saw action Thursday, and the Flyers' bench outscored Stanford's 34-2 - that overcame an injury-riddled regular season to squeeze into the NCAA tournament. Miller has roused the loyal, passionate Dayton fans, many of whom traveled eight hours to fill FedEx Forum on Thursday. Chants of "Let's go Fly-ers!" rang out in the second half, creating a road-like environment at times for the 10th-seeded Cardinal.

"It was a home game," Miller said. "It is the best fan base that a community can have."

Miller could not have envisioned a much better first half. His team collected 13 assists, committed two turnovers and made six three-pointers. In all, 11 Flyers scored in the game, including guard Jordan Sibert, who finished with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

"When the ball moves, we move," Miller said Wednesday. "We can play on offense with just about anybody. As long as we are sharing it and we take good shots, we will kind of live with that."

With Stanford luminaries Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State, and Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks cornerback, in attendance, Stanford's usually stout defense wilted.

"They were relentless," Dawkins said of Dayton. "They came in waves. They had two players at every position."

Dawkins said it was difficult for his team to remain in zone because the Flyers had playmakers at every position on the court.

This was a defense that had not allowed more than 57 points in either of its NCAA tournament games. It was a defense that held Kansas to 32.8% shooting and standout freshman Andrew Wiggins to four points.

But Dayton shot 58.3% during the first eight minutes of the game. A defensive stop was so rare for the Cardinal that all the Stanford assistant coaches erupted with emphatic fist pumps when the Cardinal forced a shot-clock violation.

Frustrations mounted for Stanford. And its usually stoic coach Johnny Dawkins - with his team trailing by 10 points - was assessed a technical foul in the first half. Asked about the technical foul, Dawkins said, "I was more emotional and did not stop. I should have been T'd up."

Having cut the lead to six points with eight minutes to play in the game, Dawkins waved his hands, summoning the Stanford fans to rise and cheer his team's defensive possession. But only seconds later Dayton's Devon Scott banked in a layup and drew a foul.

Stanford never challenged again. And Dayton had a first-half performance and an Elite Eight berth to savor.